


they live by the light you cast

by Elizabeth (anghraine)



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Family, Alternate Universe - Middle Earth Setting, Alternate Universe - Renaissance, Alternate Universe - Twins, Brother-Sister Relationships, Canon Compliant, Childhood Trauma, Equalist, F/F, F/M, First Meetings, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Male-Female Friendship, Multi, One Shot Collection, Original Character(s), Originally Posted on Tumblr, Prompt Fic, Sibling Incest, Siblings, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, disproportionate retribution
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-24 19:01:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 5,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12019032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anghraine/pseuds/Elizabeth
Summary: Short Avatar fics prompted on Tumblr.





	1. Makorrasami

Mako and Asami, talking quietly with Pema, glanced up. They seemed more Mako-and-Asami than before, now, even their casual gestures practically synchronized, like the Fire Ferrets on their best days. Korra suppressed a pang of resentment. Asami was great, really great. Better than Korra had ever expected. Of course Mako liked her, and … and it didn’t really matter. He was Asami’s.


	2. Hiroshi and Amon, golden cage AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> cafait prompted "(Long shot): Any pairing, that lok golden cage tarrlok & asami as Equalist prisoners au you've speculated about" for the three-sentence meme.

“She’s been completely corrupted by those benders,” Hiroshi said, mouth twisting;  _she’ll have to die,_ he almost added, but though of course he couldn’t see Amon’s face, something about the slow turn of his head kept him from saying it.

“They will see the truth eventually,” said Amon, “but for now, they must be kept safely away from all benders.”

_They?_


	3. Masami genderswap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> steinbecks prompted "masami friendship genderswap" for the three-sentence meme.

Asami had grown up with books, of course, more than he could ever read. Frankly, he wasn't  _interested_ in reading all that many of them, besides the engineering texts (he firmly repressed memories of his father explaining the diagrams, half in words and half in quick gestures, back when his fingers were still oil-stained and his nails bitten down to the quick)—and a few trashy novels he would never admit to liking. 

Mako would, he thought, and couldn’t help but smile; she’d never be embarrassed of any book.


	4. Noatak and f!Tarrlok, Borgias AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> solbalesta prompted "When I saw that you were taking prompts, the noise that left my throat was like that of a squeezed plush toy. :-) I propose... Noatak and Taraka, Borgia siblings" for the three-sentence meme.
> 
> (I pictured this as canon for _Edge of Darkness_ , fwiw.)

“You needn’t be worried for your career,” Noatak said carelessly, dropping his mask on a chair.

“I worry for  _Republic City_ , which I serve,” said Taraka; she didn’t sound convincing even to herself.

“Republic City will be better off under my rule—and if you join me, dear sis, so will you.”


	5. Desna and Eska, Borgia-style rumours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ikkinthekitsune prompted "Borgiaesque rumours and Desna and Eska!" for the three-sentence meme.

They were seventeen before they noticed that others thought them odd: less because they were unobservant and more because they didn’t care. They were in their twenties when they realized that the whispers of  _not right_ and  _unnatural_ did not pertain to their youth, or to their father’s decline into half-spirit monster, half-incompetent leader, but a belief that Desna and Eska were lovers—a prospect that struck them as unappealing. They did not greatly care about this, either, but still, they felt a certain satisfaction when they saw the bruised face of a particularly insistent and reckless reporter, who had gone so far as to mention the possibility to their cousin Korra.


	6. Korvira AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An anon prompted "korra/kuvira, 22" for the AU meme: two miserable people meeting at a wedding au.

Korra supported the wedding in a general way. She liked both of them. She liked the idea of them together—liked them better when they were together.

She even smiled and nodded at Kya. “Maybe Lin will go lighter on you now,” she told Mako.

He looked appalled. But Lin  _did_ seem something like happy, she and Kya both. Korra didn’t begrudge them that.

She just … didn’t like weddings, much. Or ceremonies in general. Too many people, too many fragile hems just waiting to be torn under her boots, too many flashing cameras. Lin could have locked down the whole island and the reporters would still have gotten through to see Aang’s and Toph’s children marrying. For the same reason, there was no escaping it. Not that Korra didn’t want to see Lin and Kya’s wedding, she just—it had already  _happened_ , she’d stood witness and everything, and now it was just…

Korra bumped into someone else.

“Sorry!” she said, for the fourth time that night. Belatedly, she realized that she hadn’t felt anything rip, this time; in fact, the person she’d stumbled into felt very, very solid.

Korra glanced up, and thought: that’d be the armour.

The woman (girl? she couldn’t be much older) smiled, barely. “It’s all right. I don’t bruise easily.”


	7. Family Reunion!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noatak and Taraka's reunion in _Edge of Darkness_.

“I assure you, Councilwoman,” he says, door locked shut behind him, “I have come only to offer a proposition.”

“A proposition?” repeats Taraka, her face a mask of ice-cold serenity. But he can feel her flicker of fear, less than he expected, in the quickening pulse of her heart, a catch of her breath. He feels, too, her hand tensing, ready to seize the water gleaming dimly behind her. “What is it?”

Before he can respond, he feels the telltale twitch of her hand.

“Don’t even try,” Noatak snaps out. “I don’t want to bloodbend you again, Taraka.”


	8. young bloodbender sisters (f!Noatak, f!Tarrlok)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Blood and Fire_ splits off with a young Taraka's choice.

Above them, the spirits danced.

Not every night, of course. But most of them—and of course there was the Moon Spirit, shining bright or dim, but almost always  _there_. And as lesson piled on lesson, as Nataka’s world narrowed to bloodbending and revenge and protecting Taraka, she hated them more and more. The spirits did not trouble themselves over  _her_. They flickered in the night skies while animals howled under her grip and her sister shuddered. If she, Nataka, daughter of the Moon Spirit’s tribe, were nothing to the spirits, why should the spirits be anything to her?

Taraka didn’t resent them. She liked to sit and watch them, to know that they were watching her.  _Don’t tell_ , her father said, voice thick with menace, tightly curled fists on his knees.  _No one must know._ And even as he spoke Taraka could see the spirits above them, watching everything. They knew. Yakone became a figure of terror, Sura ignorant and helpless, Nataka cold and distant; but the spirits did not change.

They were there, too, when Taraka stumbled after her sister, cried,  _Wait for me! I didn’t mean—wait! I’m coming!_ They ran away together, and the spirits lit their way.


	9. Republic City student and Air Acolyte

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> heckofabecca prompted, "Republic City University student meets an Air Acolyte while doing a research paper on pre-100 Years War airbender society."

Even now, the Fire Nation’s version of history taints the textbooks. Avatar Aang, as far as Min can tell, corrected— _countered_ , she should say—their account with his own memories, but he hadn’t been much of a scholar. He argued against the worst of the fabrications, the  _divergences_ , and freely answered questions he was asked, and taught his history to his children and students.

She wouldn’t make much of an air acolyte, and she doesn’t think it’d be a good idea to walk up to a Council member and ask him about history. Until she gets a chance to go to the Temple, there’s no way of looking through their scrolls, either. So there’s only one thing left.

Min bumps into a pretty young acolyte on her way past the hospital. They both stumble, automatically reach out to steady the ground beneath them.

_That_ she hadn’t expected. Min’s eyes go wide and she grins. “I didn’t know any of you were benders!” She catches herself. “I mean, I’m sorry.”

The acolyte laughs. “It’s fine. About a third of us are. You’re an earthbender, too?”

“Yes.” It’s true, but she’s still uncomfortable saying it. She was never a very  _good_ earthbender; definitely not good enough to earn a living at it. It’s been a long time since she even had a reason to mention it. “And all of you at the Temple bend together, or—oh, forgive me, you probably want to get going.”

“I think we’re headed in the same direction—through the main square, right?”

Min nods.

“Then I’m happy to answer any questions. It’s part of our tradition. No, we don’t use bending in the temple at all. We practice the airbending forms, but of course, only Master Tenzin and the children can bend with them. They’re very calming, however.”

“Are they any good for fighting? I’ve read that it used to be all but impossible to land a blow on an airbender, even if they’re not bending.”

“Well, we’re not fighters,” says the acolyte. “But yes, they’re very useful for evasive maneuvers and the like, if we ever need them.”

Min looks over at her. “I’m sorry, I don’t even know your name. I’m Min. I’m a junior scholar at the university—I’m studying pre-Hundred Year War history.”

“My name is Tai,” the acolyte says.

They walk together for a few minutes, Min asking questions for her research, and asking if Tai minds being listed as a source.

“Of course not.” Tai giggles, sounding less like an imperturbable monk and more like an ordinary girl like Min. “I’ve never had my name in  _anything_. I’ll ask Master Tenzin, of course, but I can’t think there’ll be a problem.”

“Thanks so much. You have no idea how hard it is to find decent sources—well, maybe you do!” Min smiles, pauses—then she asks, “Is it hard? Not being able to earthbend whenever you want to?”

“At first,” Tai admits. “Not so much later on. We get used to it, and we can use it for small things, when we’re away from the temple.”

Min considers. “People can get used to just about anything, can’t they? And that doesn’t sound so hard.”

“It depends on the bender, I think.” Tai glances down at her fingertips. “And the element. It’s easier for waterbenders, since they’re used to not being able to bend all the time. We do all right, but it’s hard on the firebenders.” She gives it a little shrug, as if to say,  _firebenders!_

“I bet I could,” Min says. “I don’t earthbend that much, anyway.”

“There’s a big difference between a little and nothing at all.” Tai, adjusting the weight of her baskets, looks thoughtfully at her. “Is there a reason you don’t use your bending much?”

Min blinks rapidly, eyes dropping to the ground.

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer.”

To her own surprise, Min  _wants_ to explain, pour out the whole sordid story to this friendly stranger. To any friendly stranger, maybe. She’s tired of secrets, but she quakes at the thought of telling anyone she really knows.

“It’s fine. I’m not from here—my family lived in the Old Kingdom, not the United Republic. We were very poor and—” A dozen lies pass through her mind. Min discards them all. “There was a mine nearby. My father was strong, and worked where he could, but they wanted people who were smaller, and earthbenders when they could get them.” She took a deep breath. “My older sister was a talented bender, much better than I am. She ran off to earn a living in the mines, but there was a cave-in one day, and—” Min covers her mouth.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” Tai sets down her baskets, stopping to pat her shoulder. “I can’t imagine how awful that must have been for you.”

Min sniffs, rubbing the tears out of her eyes. She doesn’t want to think of that.

The story is almost, but not quite, true. The miners  _always_ used children; her father hadn’t worked in the mines since he’d been a boy himself. He’d been a cold, bitter man, and when his eldest daughter turned out to be a gifted earthbender, it seemed that the spirits were finally smiling on him.  _He_ sold Kun to the miners, while Min desperately hid her bending from everyone. If she hadn’t, if she’d been there with Kun—

No.

“It was a long time ago,” she says, picking up one of the baskets. “But earthbending always reminds me of her. Most people think I’m a non-bender. D’you think the acolytes would take me?”

“We don’t turn anyone away,” Tai assures her. “If you’re really interested, you can come to the temple and take a look around. Well, usually. Security might be a little tighter now, with the Equalists blowing everything up. But I’m sure it’ll be back to normal soon.”

“I hope so,” says Min. “Oh, this is my turn—here’s your basket. Thank you so much for listening, and answering all my questions.”

“You’re quite welcome.”

Whistling, Tai strolls on, never even looking back. Min chews her lip and watches the slim orange and red form. Then she turns quietly down the street, pulling her goggles over her face.


	10. f!Hiroshi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sokkcoli prompted, "☯ Hiroshi just wondering..."

Hiroko grew up a poor non-bender among other poor non-benders, often homeless, and disregarded by everyone outside her community, until some of her plans happened to catch the attention of a rich investor. He recognized her genius and was quite happy to loan her the start-up money for R&D and then a full fledged business of her own (and never had cause to regret the investment).

During the early phase, when Future Industries was barely a blip on the industrial map, she met a handsome young engineer with wavy black hair and clear green eyes. He believed in her vision and helped with the factory, often for no pay; they fell madly in love over engine parts and grease.

Future Industries was turning a very tidy profit by the time they married, and Hiroko had built an immense mansion for them by the time she got pregnant with Asami a few years later. She wanted her daughter to have all the advantages Hiroko hadn’t, comfort and education and security, never worrying about where her next meal was coming from or how she’d ever turn her dreams into reality or how to protect herself from angry Agni Kais. But when Asami was a little girl, a firebender broke into the mansion and murdered Hiroko’s husband. If Asami had been there, and not following Hiroko around the factory, she would have died too.

It would be years until before Amon showed up in Republic City, and years more before Hiroko tracked him down and made certain propositions—but that was the day that she promised herself that someday, she would get her revenge on  _all_ the benders of Republic City. She would do her part to create a better, safer world for non-benders, whether they were as poor and desperate as the young Hiroko, or like Asami, sobbing inconsolably in her arms.


	11. f!Mako

Mako is stronger than she looks. Not as strong as Korra or Bolin, with their square frames and the muscles it takes to pummel their element into obedience—but strong enough. She has no trouble tossing Equalists over her shoulder and she practices tirelessly.

Fire isn’t stubborn, like earth. It doesn’t resist her, but springs readily to her hands and feet, burning steadily under her skin with every breath she takes. She could just let it  _be_ , and she would be a firebender still, and a damn good one, just like her mother was.

But the flames in her dreams and behind her eyelids aren’t just her own. She remembers her mother shoving both of them into the tiny closet—Mako took Bolin on her lap and clapped her hand over his mouth—and moving through the familiar motions, a little too weak, a little too slow. She remembers the agonized shouts and her father’s burned and melted flesh.

It’s not Mama’s fault. But whenever Mako gets tired of her exercises, frustrated at lightning that doesn’t work quite right (that was when she was younger), exhausted by constantly trying to scrape enough for both of them while keeping her brother safe and shielded from the worst—she remembers Bolin in her arms and her mother screaming before her eyes. She buries her face in her father’s scarf, and remembers why she has to be fast and fierce and strong, every instant of every day.


	12. Korra and Kyoshi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ikkinthekitsune prompted, "Korra, Kyoshi, Advice."

_You should meditate and seek guidance on this matter,_ Tenzin had told her, as if Aang ever gave her advice that Tenzin wouldn’t have; Korra blew out an exasperated puff of air, and concentrated.

 _I do need advice,_ she thought,  _and something other than “violence is never the answer” might be nice!_

The soft tread that usually accompanied Aang’s presence was more like a stamp of heavy boots—Korra looked up—and instead of meeting Aang’s gentle gaze, she found herself staring into a pair of cool green eyes, surrounded by elaborate face-paint.

“Avatar Kyoshi!” Korra cried, unable to restrain a wide smile.

Kyoshi bowed her head, and said, “It is the Avatar’s first and highest duty to bring justice to the world—whatever the cost.”


	13. Korrlok, Middle-earth AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> crowtoed prompted, "Korrlok, Middle Earth. *evilly interlaces fingers*" for the three-sentence meme.

Koirë had been lucky that her distant kinsman, Amandil of Andúnië, had agreed to let her stay in Armenelos at all; he had nearly shipped her back to Eressëa before she convinced him that Númenor needed the influence of the Elves as well as of the Faithful. She’d had no idea, though, how terrible things really were—and it was not Amandil but Tarlaikon, the lord of Rómenna, who had the Queen’s ear.

Tarlaikon was selfish, greedy, ruthless, but according to Amandil, he also had a great deal of foresight and saw deep into the hearts of Edain and Eldar alike; that, Koirë insisted to herself, was the only reason she agreed to help him hunt down Annatar’s men.


	14. Makorrasami, Renaissance AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> steinbecks/pulpofiction prompted "makorrasami, renaissance au :) :) :) :)" for the three-sentence meme.

It was Asami who bought the fine doublet and hose, who frowned when she saw the faded red cloak still hanging over Mako’s shoulders, until he explained. It was Asami, too, who seized both their arms and managed to look as if both Korra and Mako guided her—Korra, a stranger to Rome, and Mako, well, a stranger to  _this_ Rome.

But it was Korra, in the Palazzo Sato that night, who jerked on the lacing to Mako’s doublet and Asami’s gown and flung both aside. 


	15. Korra and Tarrlok

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lantur prompted, "Korra, Tarrlok: "cake" :)".
> 
> (This one is definitely not Korrlok, and also a stealth SW AU.)

“Buntings—yes, of  _course_ I want them in blue, like the cake,” Tarrlok was saying, with a distinct note of strain in his usually even voice. Korra paused in the doorway, then strode into his study, briefly wondering why he had fish painted everywhere instead of keeping actual fish like a normal person. The moment he saw her, he hushed the whoever-it-was on the other end of the phone.

“I’m taking Naga for a walk, Uncle Tarrlok.”

“Good idea,” he said, wincing as Naga gave another heartfelt roar from his manicured gardens, “but try not to hold up traffic again, all right?”


	16. Noatak and Korra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noatak and Korra as twins for the three-sentence meme.

It was the dead of winter, the North Pole dark and frozen, when the twins screamed their way into the world. Korra was the eldest, born a full twenty minutes before Noatak, though it made no difference except when she wanted to score a point against him. They looked alike and thought alike, and with three years between them and the brother they persistently considered the baby, a few minutes were nothing.


	17. Avatar Princess Korra AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU where Tonraq became Chief of the Northern Water Tribe for the ten-sentence meme.

“Hey, Tarrlok.”

Tarrlok, probably by sheer force of habit, sprang to his feet. “Princess.” Then his eyes opened wide and he gaped at her. “ _Princess Korra?_ What are you doing here? What are you—when did you—why—”

Korra smirked. “I’m the Avatar, remember? Dad figured it was about time I saw Republic City.”


	18. Pre-Korrlok AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tarrlok can't bring himself to bloodbend again, and nothing stops Korra from lighting him on fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Korrlok Week prompted "Drug."

The first two days were a nightmare. Korra called the police and the hospital herself, then ran home, to the Air Temple, choking out an explanation to her bewildered teacher. She was crying, terrified, sick with horror, and she had to say it over and over before he understood. By the time Saikhan arrived, though, she was just numb, blankly agreeing to the suggested house arrest.

She could hear metalbenders clinking past her locked door through the entire day—none of them ever spoke to her, and they wouldn’t let the children and Pema see her, or answer any of her questions about Mako, and Bolin and Asami. Tenzin came as often as he could, but he was doing his best to keep things under control. The other councilmembers had always been useless, the police had barely managed to stop an attack on three different hospitals, Tarrlok’s unjust laws were still being enforced, and between the reporters seizing on scraps of the story like rabid wolves, and Amon ranting over the radio, it was everything he could do to maintain any kind of control at all. And he considered himself at least partially responsible for Mako and Bolin and Asami, too.

Towards afternoon of the second day, Saikhan pounded on her door, then stalked in, followed by Tenzin, who looked more exhausted than she’d ever seen him, but also—almost relieved? Saikhan himself seemed disgruntled, before asking her to tell the whole story all over again. After she was done, he just huffed to himself.

“What is it?” she said, eyes darting between the two of them. “Tenzin, tell me!”

“First of all, Chief Saikhan agreed to release certain prisoners in the absence of evidence against them,” Tenzin said, clearly picking his words.

“Great!” said Korra, grinning widely. “Thanks, Tenzin! And, uh, chief.”

Tenzin permitted himself a small smile. “There’s also other good news. Tarrlok improved drastically last night. The healers aren’t sure why, but—he’s able to sit up and move a little, and could speak to us lucidly.”

Korra stared at him, then grinned widely. “That’s great! I’m—” She frowned at Saikhan’s scowling face. “I’m really glad. Doesn’t look like you are, though. What is it? You don’t want your boss back? What did he say? Wait, is he saying it happened differently? Because—”

“Councilman Tarrlok,” said Saikhan, “did not have an opinion on your account. He simply told us that, for the good of the city, he might be willing to refrain from pressing charges against you. He wants to speak with you in person on the matter.”

“Really?” Korra rubbed Naga’s head absently; her friend opened one eyelid, grumbled under her breath, then went back to sleep. “ _I_  wouldn’t talk to me if it were me. Uh. I mean, okay. Let’s go!”

Six metalbenders, plus Saikhan and Tenzin, escorted Korra to the hospital. She supposed it was kind of flattering, and nobody shouted “murderer!” or anything in the streets, so apparently the story hadn’t spread too much, no matter what Amon said. Some people avoided her eyes, though. Korra tried not to think about it; she had enough to worry about, figuring out what Tarrlok was going to demand.

She took a deep breath, bracing herself, as the healers moved aside to let the three of them into Tarrlok’s hospital room. I don’t want to see him, she thought. I don’t want to know—but that was stupid and cowardly. She straightened, lifting her eyes, and forcing herself to look at Tarrlok.

The first thing she felt was pure relief. His face looked almost the same as usual—tired and washed-out, but they’d managed to heal everything. Then she saw his hands and arms, wrapped in layers of bandages. Right. He’d hesitated, she remembered, then thrown his arms up, trying to shield his face. Korra barely heard a healer whisper to Saikhan that they’d had to partially sedate the councilman, though she couldn’t help but notice that he looked oddly relaxed, considering the circumstances.

“Avatar Korra,” he said, drawing out the title, as if he were trying to remind her of what he’d called her before, or of—ugh, he probably was. “I see you received my invitation.”

For a moment, Tarrlok’s voice bled into Amon’s, enunciating each word with calm arrogance, just as Tarrlok did, but even deeper and more supremely confident.  _I received your invitation._

Korra gulped. “Yes. Um, hi. Tenzin said you wanted to talk to me.” She could hear herself speak, as if from a distance, her tone nervous and uncertain. She hated it. Korra crossed her arms. “For _the good of the_ _city_ _._ ”

They considered each other for a moment, Tarrlok drugged and bandaged, Korra’s cheek still stinging. She’d always thought of him as—not like Tenzin, but with Tenzin, one of Tenzin’s people whom she occasionally had to deal with. And then she’d thought that he was like Amon, rousing frightened people behind him to do terrible things, staging his stupid performances, pretending to care about the city when all he really wanted was power, even plots and tricks and his slippery way of turning everything to his advantage. That was still true, of course. But, looking at him, she couldn’t help but think that what he’d said that night might not be the blatant lie she’d insisted it was—maybe he was like her, too. Certainly more than like Tenzin.

Still talking slowly, he said:

“I’d like to speak to the Avatar alone.”

Tenzin scowled.

“I’m not sure—” began Saikhan, and Tarrlok gave a humorless laugh.

“I’m not any danger to her. Ask the healers. I can’t hold a pen, much less bend. But feel free to take all the water with you as you leave, if it makes you feel better. As for the Avatar, you’ll have to trust her not to murder me in the middle of a hospital.”

 _I took his bending_. Korra felt almost as sick as she had when he’d started screaming, his coat alight. She dug her nails into her arms, forcing herself to stay as calm as she could.

“I’ll be fine, Tenzin,” she said.

After she watched Saikhan, Tenzin, and–perhaps most reluctantly–the healers bow out, Korra looked back at Tarrlok.

“What do you want?”

“I’d like to keep my job,” he said, still with that bizarre disinterest. What had they given him? He didn’t even seem to care that the light blue Water Tribe coat he’d usually worn (the exact same shade as her favourite shirt) had been burned to a crisp and he was sitting there in an unceremonious hospital robe, or that his always-immaculate hair (the exact same shade as hers) wasn’t caught into three ponytails (like hers), but hanging in a mess, the shorter strands right over his face. One of Korra’s fell over her eyes and she blew it away. He looked better this way, she thought privately, but not right.

“What does that have to do with me?” she said.

“Attacking the Avatar is usually frowned on.” Tarrlok glanced at his hands. “Not quite as much as the Avatar burning disarmed prisoners alive, of course.” There was none of his usual slimy self-satisfaction in his voice; he just sounded tired. “This isn’t a good time—” he paused, and Korra could almost have sworn he was swallowing down a yawn. “The Equalists will—any weakness, and they’ll use it. They’re already trying.”

Korra wished Mako were there, and the others. They were better at this kind of stuff. Aang was too, if he’d just talk to her instead of give her tiny fragments of visions. He’d shown her something going wrong in a courtroom—was he warning her about that? She licked her lips, and said, “I know. I heard Amon on the radio.”

“What did he say?”

Korra shrugged. “Usual stuff about how I’m just another bender oppressing people. And so are you, so if you’re not safe from me, nobody is, blah blah blah. He sounded pretty angry.”

“Hm,” he said. “If it’s … all the same to you, I’d rather not be a rallying cause for Equalists.”

Korra searched his blank face. “You’re saying that you’ll keep quiet about me attacking you if I keep quiet about you attacking me? So the Council and other people aren’t distracted?”

“Quiet is hardly …” He blinked several times. “Sufficient. If Amon … we’d need a story. Some of it’s gotten around, so it can’t be too far. From the truth. You’d have to have a reason.”

Korra put her hands on her hips. “I don’t like you, Tarrlok. And I don’t trust you.”

“So?”

She heaved a gusty sigh. “But you’re right. A trial that’ll probably put both of us in jail is the last thing the city needs right now. It’d just be playing into Amon’s hands. Fine. I won’t accuse you if you don’t accuse me. We can figure out the rest later.”

“No time,” he said.

Korra just rolled her eyes. “You’re pumped full of … I don’t know what, but you look like you’re about to faint. We’ll talk when you can put sentences together.” She paused. “Only if stop arresting innocent people, though.”

He was already asleep.


	19. Tarrlok, Noatak, and Tenzin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wrote a fic on the kinkmeme where Aang and Katara rescue the bloodbender brothers as children, and eventually raise them with their own children. This, prompted(I think?) by pulpofiction/steinbecks, was a sort of futurefic in that verse.

“You could teach waterbending,” Katara often suggested, frowning around his bleak apartment, then just as quickly smiling at the familiar blue scarf around his neck—faded and fraying now, but the same scarf Aang had bought him all those years ago. “You’re patient and good with people, and you have an extraordinary gift.”

She didn’t have to say that he was a waterbender to his bones, he and his brother both. Noatak couldn’t imagine that anything they did would not revolve around their— _gift_.Yet in the end, Tarrlok, who scarcely recalled the terrible years before Katara and Aang found them, followed Tenzin into politics, only relying on his power as a bender to bolster his competence. Noatak, his memories sharp and clear, scraped by on purifying, boiling, healing, cleaning, until a few years after Aang’s death, when he found two of his brothers waiting in his apartment.

Noatak looked at their faces—Tenzin’s thin layer of Air Nomad serenity cracking in a dozen places, Tarrlok scarcely concealing a grin—and shut the door.

“What is it?”

“Someday,” said Tarrlok, “we’ll stop by for the pleasure of your company, and you’ll probably be struck speechless.”

“Perhaps,” Noatak agreed placidly. “It doesn’t seem to be that day, however.”

“Well, if you didn’t insist on living—”

Tenzin cleared his throat.

“Sorry.” Tarrlok brushed some imaginary specks of dust off his ridiculously ornate coat. “We came to tell you that Katara—”

“The Order of the White Lotus,” said Tenzin.

“Whoever it was, they’ve found the next Avatar. It’s a little girl from the Southern Water Tribe. Her name’s Korra.”

If Tarrlok hadn’t been using the only chair, Noatak would have had to sit down. “She’d only be four,” he said, feeling oddly distant. Of course they’d known Aang had been reborn as soon as he died, that—but it wasn’t the same. “How can you be sure?”

Tarrlok’s expression turned positively gleeful. “She’s already bending three elements.”

“What?”

“She needs a waterbending master,  _now_ ,” said Tenzin, folding his hands. “If you’re willing, Mother would like you to come to the South Pole as soon as you can. I’ll take you myself.”

“I—she wants  _me_ to train the new Avatar? A four-year-old girl? Why doesn’t she do it? Or—”

Tarrlok, with a quick shrewd look, asked Tenzin to leave them alone for a moment. Once their brother swept out of the room, Noatak frowned.

“What, are you going to say it’s the opportunity of a lifetime?”

“No,” said Tarrlok. “I wasn’t going to bring it up, but—”

Noatak gave him an impatient glance. Tarrlok shrugged.

“We owe Aang a lot, Noatak.”

Well, he thought,  _that_ was an angle of attack he hadn’t seen coming. Trying to ignore the sudden weight in his gut, he said, “You hardly even remember.”

“ _You_ do.”

Noatak flinched.

“You’re a great waterbender—maybe the greatest in the world. Katara isn’t asking as a favour to you. She’s asking for one  _from_ you. They want the best for the Avatar, and that’s you. I think we owe them that much.” Tarrlok got to his feet, with a slight adjustment of his coat. “Don’t you?”

“Katara’s the best,” said Noatak.

“Maybe. But she’s getting older. And—” Tarrlok hesitated. “I think she’d like someone outside the White Lotus involved in Korra’s training. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on, but she’s not happy about something.”

“They’ll probably make me join,” Noatak said sourly, and only realized he’d given in when Tarrlok grinned.

After he’d packed up his handful of possessions, paid the remnants of his rent, and Tarrlok had sent a note to the kitchen where Noatak was currently working, all three brothers walked outside together. Oogi, catching sight of them, gave a happy roar, and Noatak let himself smile, a little.

“You know,” Tenzin said, “it’s odd. I only saw her briefly, but I could have sworn—”

“You noticed that too?” said Tarrlok.

Noatak went back to scowling. “What?”

“It’s probably coincidence,” said Tenzin.

Tarrlok, scratching Oogi’s nose, laughed. “Well, it has to be? But it’s interesting, isn’t it? She’s the spitting image of you, Noatak.”


End file.
